Wednesday, September 26, 2018
A Little Bird Told Me
The gossip of the members of his community about his demotion, rather than the demotion itself, is the direct cause of the doorman's downfall in The Last Laugh. Some of the most expressive images in the film demonstrate the spread of gossip and the resultant mockery of the neighbors: the camera moves to an outstretched ear, the camera follows the doorman along a walk of shame, grotesque and blurry heads superimposed on the neighborhood mock him with unabashed laughter. What is the movie saying about gossip as a form of communication? What is it saying about the community that listens to it? How does what other people think of us influence how we think of ourselves?
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In the film, The Last Laugh, the journey of a demoted doorman attempts to show that maturity does not apply to gossip. Quickly-spread gossip is a huge issue that is present in every aspect of life: whether childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, and this “lifelong” aspect is primarily showcased as the doorman goes home to his wife, having to admit to her that he has lost his job as a doorman. It is an incredibly personal manner, in which the door of their apartment is clearly shut to avoid any potential eavesdroppers. This plan proves to be incredibly defective as the next-door neighbor hears the yelling and childishly decides to stick her ear right on the door to hear, almost like the apartment complex is a preschool. Instead of choosing to let the bickering be someone else’s problem, she continues to listen, reacting to the grave situation with laughter. The woman who is undoubtedly intruding on the privacy of her neighbors decides to take it a step further and tells her other housewife friends about the doorman’s predicament. Like preschoolers, they eat it up like cake and begin telling everyone in sight, showing how extremely juvenile these grown adults are when it comes to gossip. Later, the doorman is ridiculed by the tons of residents who know about his demotion, trudging along with his face as sad as ever. Even as the wise, resilient adult man he is, he seems to react with great sadness to the realization that his story is everywhere, all thanks to gossip. Accordingly, this “walk of shame” shows that, despite the wisdom and resilience of this good man, he too has feelings. The people dying of laughter, of course, show no respect for the doorman and show no regrets for their public mockery. The eavesdropping is bad enough, but the lack of sympathy shown for the emotional impact caused by the widespread word of mouth is an obvious indication that these mature adults have not come to realize the moral issues behind gossip.
ReplyDeleteIn the film “The Last Laugh”, the unnamed protagonist (a doorman) loses his job and is demoted in the hotel and is sent to work in maintenance. Just this event alone defiantly had a negative impact on the man’s life, as it was his passion and clearly was devastated when he got the news informing him on his demotion. However to add onto the problems, word got around about the news as gossip spread and dramatically increased the embarrassment. One specific scene that sticks out to me is when he walks down the road/sidewalk and all the civilians stick their heads out of their windows to laugh at him. Then on top of that, there is an interesting visual effect of many women laughing with only their faces blown up to fill the picture. This scene is shot with the camera in front of him at an angle. Due to this, we can see what is next to and behind him. This gives us the impression that he is being watched and due to the circumstances in the scene, he is being judged and made fun of. As the film continues has to deal with the truth as his family, friends and coworkers find out what happened. I think this movie is trying to display gossip as a negative use of communication. While it is true that he was demoted, having practically everyone know about it can be emotionally draining. He even has dreams about working as a doorman again which demonstrates the painful impact his demotion and the reaction of many people in his life to the news.
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